


The Good Soldier

by Redrikki



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Betrayal, Child Soldiers, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-10-10 07:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20524220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/pseuds/Redrikki
Summary: On the sliding scale between perfect soldier Adora and useless malcontent Catra, Lonnie was closer to the Adora end of the spectrum. How the hell had Catra made Force Captain before her? Catra was just going crash and burn and Lonnie? Lonnie would let her.





	The Good Soldier

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Guinevak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guinevak/gifts).

> Doubles as my Ladies Bingo fill for minor characters.

Lonnie just about choked on her own spit when Catra sauntered into the squad’s training session ten minutes late with a Force Captain’s badge on her chest. “They made _you_ a Force Captain?”

“Congratulations, Catra,” Kyle called from where he was dangling upside down behind Lonnie like this was some sane, rational thing.

On the sliding scale between perfect soldier Adora and useless malcontent Catra, Lonnie had always fallen squarely in the middle. Actually, that was a lie. _Rogelio_ was in the middle. Lonnie was closer to the Adora end of the spectrum. She did more than just keep her head down, follow orders, and pass their training exams. No, she put the work in: studying hard and waking up early every morning to do stomach crunches. With Adora around, she’d known Force Captain was out of her reach, but figured she was a shoe-in for trusted lieutenant. The idea of being Catra’s trusted anything made Lonnie’s stomach turn.

“Hordak knows a good thing when he sees it,” Catra bragged, hands on hips, chest thrust out to show off the badge she hadn’t earned. “Now that I’m in charge,” she went on, oblivious to the shadows gathering behind her, “Shadow Weaver won’t be the only one—”

She broke off as Shadow Weaver coalesced behind her and dragged her off like the troublemaker she was. Kyle hit the ground with a dull thud.

“Wow, can you believe Catra made Force Captain?” Kyle asked as he hauled himself up off the floor. 

“No, I can’t.”

While Lonnie had worked her butt off to be the best soldier she could be, Catra had slacked off and mouthed off at every opportunity. She didn’t know a thing about leadership, but here she was, lording her promotion over them like she’d last five minutes without Adora covering for her. They didn’t know where she was, but with Adora gone, Lonnie should have been made Force Captain. Catra was just going crash and burn and Lonnie? Lonnie would let her. 

* * *

Turned out, Catra was a terrible commander, a fact which came as a surprise to exactly no one. She hadn’t even bothered with Force Captain orientation and, man, did it show. Not only had she not known about the sea gate, her so-called plan for dealing with it was to have the squad blast away at it while she went after She-Ra like she’d stolen the last of the good ration bars. Now they were stuck, wet and shivering, on a raft made from what was left of the enemy’s burned-out ship while the stupid sea gate was stronger than ever.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Force Captain Scorpia said philosophically. 

“You think?!” Catra paced angrily, her tail lashing behind her. “Stupid She-Ra. Stupid sea gate. How am I supposed to explain this to Shadow Weaver?” She rounded on the squad. “How could you let this happen?

The boys cringed, but Lonnie just rolled her eyes. Some leader Catra was turning out to be. Adora would have accepted responsibility and learned from her mistake, but Catra had never taken responsibility for anything in her life. 

“Oh, please. Adora would have—”

“Adora, what, Lonnie?” Catra demanded, suddenly in her face with something dangerous in her eyes. “Adora would have what?” She snarled, the angry whipping of her tail ticking off the seconds until her claws came out.

Lonnie squared her shoulders and raised her chin. She could hold her own against Catra and she wasn’t going to be intimidated just because she was Force Captain. “Adora would have won because _Adora_ would have gone to orientation and shown up to the battle with an actual plan!” Lonnie found herself yelling by the end of it. 

She’d spent the last few days trying to be a good soldier and respect the chain of command, but there was only so much a girl could take. Adora should have been there, leading them, not this arrogant, jumped-up cat. None of them knew what had happened to their friend, but Lonnie would wager a week’s worth of rations that Catra had something to do with her disappearance. She glared at her so-called commanding officer and silently dared her to do something about it.

Catra just blinked and started laughing. She laughed and laughed until she was bent double with the force of it. “Adora,” she gasped, clutching her stomach. “Adora already won!”

“Um.” Kyle exchanged a worried look with Rogelio. “What are you talking about?”

It took Catra a minute to pull herself together long enough to answer. “Don’t you know?” she asked with a peal of hysterical laughter. “Adora is _She-Ra_. Why did you think we were here? She didn’t just abandon us, she joined the other side!”

The boys both gasped, but Lonnie barely heard them over the roaring of blood in her ears. That couldn’t be right. She shook her head. She could see Catra switching sides at the mere promise of power, but not Adora. Not the girl who’d always said that a soldier’s first duty was to protect their squad. 

It didn’t make sense, but it did fit. Adora had disappeared just before She-Ra showed up. And Catra, who could barely be bothered to get out of bed most mornings, had gone after her like it was personal. Because it was. Because Adora, the girl they’d all looked up to and model themselves on, had betrayed them all.

Catra watched her with a little smirk like this was funny. Lonnie’s hands curled into fists and Catra just smirked harder. She considered punching the expression clean off her stupid, furry face, but no. Adora may have been a traitor, but Lonnie was a good soldier and good soldiers didn’t strike their superior officer. She turned away and yanked at a loose board dangling from the edge of their make-shift raft. It came away into her hands with a satisfying crack.

“Forget Adora,” she told herself, then repeated it, louder, for everyone to hear. “Everybody find a paddle and start rowing. We’re getting back to the Fright Zone.”

Her officers were incompetents and the one person she thought she could always count on was a traitor. Someone had to look after the squad and it looked like that person was her.


End file.
